What is some background information on the apostle Paul?

Answer 1

A:The most accessible and most commonly cited material on the Apostle Paul is to be found in Acts of the Apostles. It says that Paul was a Roman citizen educated in Jerusalem by the renowned rabbi Gamaliel, that he was present as a young man at the stoning of Stephen, and that he went on three great missionary journeys to spread Christianity. To this, Hans Joachim Schoeps, a Protestant theologian, writes that Acts has been "believed much too readily." He says that Acts follows a clear didactic line and for this reason energetically cultivates the creation of legends and reshapes persons and events according to its own standards. The majority of New Testament scholars have concerns about the reliability of Acts. Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says that the three missionaries journeys are only a convenient classification developed by students of Acts and that we can never even verify the martyrdom or existence of Stephen.

This leaves us with the fragmented autobiographical information that can be gleaned from Paul's own epistles. Paul was proud of his Jewish heritage, but never mentions being a Roman citizen. He says that he learnt his gospel from no man, but by revelation. After his conversion he went, contrary to Acts, to Arabia (probably Petrea) and only then to Damascus. His own itinerary seems to preclude the three missionary journeys that Acts describes, and scholars say there is no evidence of the dangerous sea voyage to Rome. Paul was a very dedicated evangelist and there are hints that the collection that is repeatedly mentioned in the epistles was for relief of the Jerusalem Christians during the Great Famine of 44-48 CE.

Clement of Rome, writing around 95 CE (1 Clement) seems to have believed that Paul finally went to Spain, where he probably died.